Abstract
This study identifies the drivers of carbon dioxide emission and measures its effects on climate change in the countries of the Congo Basin. It applies panel Autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) model to Kaya’s (1990) identity framework, which breaks up the main determinants of carbon dioxide emissions into energy intensity, carbon intensity, population and per capita gross domestic product. To take into account the ecological specificities of these countries, we add other variables; like “biocapacity” and “ecological balance”. Using data for the 1971-2016 period, the results show that economic growth has a more negative effect on environmental quality in the Congo Basin, followed by energy intensity, carbon intensity and population density. “Biocapacity” and “ecological balance” have negative and positive coefficients, suggesting that they respectively are a “carbon sink” and “emission source” for CO2, although the coefficients are non-significant. Particular attention should therefore be given to forest protection and ecological transition, problems arising from population explosion and the resulting uncontrolled urban development.